The secret history of COPS in Schools

The NRA’s executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, has been the subject of Beltway ire for his proposal to put police officers in schools across the country; the White House, lawmakers, and political analysts on both sides of the aisle have summarily denounced him. Rewind just 13 years, though, and many of these lawmakers were cheering a proposal that bears a remarkable resemblance to the one set forth by the NRA: President Clinton’s “COPS in Schools” program.

The subhead on the column notes that “Pelosi, Schumer, and other Dems were for it before they were against it.” There’s a lot of that going around. The story of the COPS in Schools program provides an interesting and timely example.